Paice aims to book England tour spot by shining for Irish

Back with a bang: David Paice marked his return from injury last Saturday by helping London Irish beat Scarlets 29-10 in the LV= Cup (Image: Picture: Action Images / Frances Leader)

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David Paice is eager to get back to his best with London Irish and win a place on England's summer tour of New Zealand.

Exiles' 30-year-old hooker was sidelined for two months after breaking his right forearm in Exiles' 20-11 defeat by Leicester Tigers in the Aviva Premiership last November.

Having been England's third-choice hooker behind Tom Youngs and Dylan Hartley before getting injured, he is keen to be included in Stuart Lancaster's squad for the three-Test series against the All Blacks in June.

He said: "I love playing for England and I just want to be involved again.

" I am targeting that end-of-season tour to New Zealand, but I need to put in good performances for London Irish to get my name back in the mix."

Paice made an impressive return from injury in an Irish pack that steamrollered Scarlets in the LV= Cup at Madejski Stadium last Saturday.

His hard-charging style was instrumental in laying the foundations for a 29-10 win over the Welsh region.

He said: "We spoke about really going out and winning the collisions in the contact zone, getting on the front foot and imposing ourselves from the start.

"I think we showed that by getting four tries in the first half.

"You have to start fast, have a lot of intent and win those 50-50 balls to get over the advantage line. The team that does that wins the majority of games," added Paice, who will have a metal plate taken out of his arm in the summer.

Irish lost all but one of their final 10 games of 2013, but have bounced back in the new year to record four wins in their last five matches.

Paice said: "It was tough watching from the sidelines, especially around Christmas time when we had some results that we were not happy with.

"It's great to be back. My fitness is good. I've been working hard with Robbie Palmer our fitness coach, but nothing recreates game fitness."

Now he has his sights set on helping Irish pull off a shock against Premiership leaders Saracens on their artificial pitch at Allianz Park in Barnet Copthall on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

Paice said: "Saracens will have players on international duty, but they can call on people like Ernst Joubert and Jacques Berger.

"Their coaching set-up is really good and they have world-class players who are very disciplined.

"It will be a fast surface, but that will suit the way we play.

"We have trained on a 3G surface, but I'm told Sarries' pitch is a little bit different, the synthetic grass is a little bit longer and a bit more like the real thing."